


Into the abyss

by Maewn



Series: Songs of the Universe [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Gen, Spoilers, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-09
Updated: 2015-02-09
Packaged: 2018-03-11 06:15:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3317216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maewn/pseuds/Maewn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The thoughts that race through one's head when facing death, staring into the abyss that is the end. Shepard's thoughts during the destruction of the SR-1.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Into the abyss

It is not how she'd imagined how she would die, alone in a black abyss of space. No, she'd thought she'd die on a battlefield somewhere on a planet far from Citadel space. Images flicker past her eyes, snapshots of her life. And they always said your life flashed before your eyes when you were about to die…

She remembers moments with her team, the random discussions with Garrus as he worked on the Mako, listening to Wrex's stories, teasing Ashley about her sisters, flirting with Liara in her lab. Liara…she hopes the asari made it to safety.

Shepard wonders briefly how her mother will take the news that she is dead. Stoically, perhaps, then break down in private. That's how she took the news of Shepard's father's death nearly ten years before.

It's getting harder to breathe now, and she remembers Kaiden's voice as he told her to leave him behind, the guilt that had overwhelmed her as she had raced to Ashley's team. But she also remembers their late night talks about family and serving. She had done what had needed to be done.

Joker had been stubborn but he would be okay, she had saved one more soul on her ship. The Normandy is breaking apart around her and the air is rushing from her hardsuit. She whispers words that her mother taught her, a prayer that she had learned long ago as a child. And she remembers suddenly,

"I want to be a marine like daddy!" A low laugh from her father, lounging on the bed, blue eyes fond as he watches his six year old daughter bounce around like a hyperactive varren.

"Oh? A marine?"

"Yes!"

"The best there's ever been?" He ruffles her hair with a hand.

"Yes! I'm gonna be the best space marine the 'verse has ever seen!" 

Her mother grins at the statement. "That's my girl."

"That's our girl," her husband corrects. "The universe will remember you."

It is those words that pass through her head, as the last molecules of air slip from her suit and the darkness creeps in.

They will remember you.

Alchera is bright blue, like the sky above Akuze, like her father's eyes, like Liara's skin and Garrus's armor. Blue like Earth, a home she will never see. It is the last thing she sees.

They will remember you.


End file.
